4 October 2004 -- The International Organization on Migration (IOM) said today that about 650,000 Afghan refugees in Pakistan have registered to vote in Afghanistan's presidential elections.

IOM spokesman Greg Bearup said his organization was pleased that the registration process in Pakistan was accomplished without any major security threat.

Bearup said the IOM was disappointed that only 27 percent of those registered in Pakistan were women.

Meanwhile, Robert Barry, head of the group from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) that will be monitoring the Afghan election, said today it would be setting the bar too high to ask a country at Afghanistan's level of development to meet international standards for free and fair elections.

He said that as a result, the OSCE will not issue a statement on the fairness of the vote.